The impact of the patriarcal heritage of the hacienda in the life of afro-ecuadorian women in the northern ecuadorian highlands

Abstract

This research analyzes the transition of the hacienda with agrarian reform and the participation of Afro-Ecua- dorian women in it by making a genealogy of the deterritorialization that women live and reverse in an Afro-Ecuadorian community in the Chota Mira Valley. Participation of women and their work in the hacien- da regime until the 60s, in Ecuador, have been historically underestimated. It has been assumed that wor- kers were men making invisible not only women domestic labor, but also the production in the haciendas. The end of the hacienda system brought together notions of freedom for the Afro-Ecuadorian population who worked there, however it did not imply a fair distribution of land.